I hope that the Democratic Party takes Mr. Phillips’s advice and moves farther left. Then, with the two major parties dominated by their radical fringes, a centrist alternative can rise up and bring sanity to American politics and policy.

JAY MARKOWITZ

New York

To the Editor:

Let’s not panic! Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million votes. She formed a very diverse coalition of voters, especially in urban areas, and her policies are pragmatic progressive. That coalition is what the Democratic Party should build on.

White working-class voters drifted to the Republican Party against their economic self-interest. We must understand their anxiety, but we need to be honest and explain that factories are not coming back to rural towns; coal is not going to replace natural gas; climate change is real and globalization is here to stay.

Directing their anger toward billionaires and millionaires got us Donald Trump. (He did anger better than Bernie Sanders). Look to California, a true blue state, as a role model for the rest of the country!

DONNA HANDY

Santa Barbara, Calif.

To the Editor:

Disenchanted voters on the left cost Hillary Clinton the election, but the solution is not for the Democratic Party to lurch farther left. Rather, progressive voters must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

If the devastating first month of the Trump presidency has taught us anything, it is that the contention by some on the left that there would be no difference between a Clinton presidency and a Trump presidency was utterly farcical.

Refusing to support a candidate who agrees with you 80 percent of the time to help elect a candidate whose values are diametrically opposed to everything you believe in is not just self-defeating but reckless as well.

Ideological purity is a luxury enjoyed by upper-class white liberals who will be least harmed by President Trump’s policies. It is a luxury that the poor, minorities and other vulnerable populations can ill afford.

TYLER GLEASON

West Reading, Pa.

To the Editor:

Democrats, move left? This is wrong. Independents and moderates of both parties yearn for a pragmatic center candidate. Hillary Clinton was largely such a candidate, but her personal failings were so appalling to many that they opted for what they perceived as the lesser evil.

What will lead Democrats to success is a moderate, centrist candidate of integrity and authenticity.

JERRY WEGMAN

Moscow, Idaho

To the Editor:

Steve Phillips needs to understand that statistics and demographic maps don’t vote; people do. As a centrist Democrat, I support candidates who come closest to aligning with my own social and economic beliefs and convictions.

I will not abandon my principles just to achieve an election victory. That would only put me in company with those who abandon their principles to put party over country. And we know who they are.

KARL HITTELMAN

Corte Madera, Calif.

To the Editor:

It seems to me that if the Democratic Party moved farther left and we already have a Republican Party that is far right, we’d have two parties at opposite poles.

How do we then get compromise, something we already have a problem with?

MARSHALL COSSMAN

Charlevoix, Mich.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: Some Advice for the Democrats. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe